Guardian Angel Haruki

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

Sylvia blinked when she noticed that she was outside, and next to Buddy. Huh...The moon was blue. Was that normal for this world? It's kinda funny how she never really noticed before now. She looked to Buddy as he spoke. After he asked, she told him shaking her head, "I didn't feel tired when I woke up. So I don't think having a conversation is going to affect my rest,"

When he made his comment, she nodded in agreement, "It is, and you should! I think everyone would love to have a conversation with you,"

She then asked, "Um...Buddy? Can I ask what happened back during our fight with harpies? You started running towards the ledge and..."

She stopped. She felt guilty for having taken away his free will, even if it was just for a brief moment, even if it was to save his life. She wanted to apologize, but she decided to ask first and see what exactly happened from Buddy's point of view before she said anything else. Of course, she wasn't sure if this was a good idea.

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

Sylvia nodded in response to Pylia's first question, however when she asked about whether or not she made a wish to live another life or if she had been dying, it got Sylvia to think. Before she could answer, Pylia seemed to have flustered herself into turning in for the night. She answered Pylia, deciding to leave the conversation be for now, "Good night, Pylia," After Pylia lies down, Sylvia also lies down on her bedroll.

However, she doesn't fall asleep right away. She couldn't help but think over Pylia's questions as she stared at the ceiling with her hands behind her head.

Did she wish for another life?

...Yes, but what kid in Elementary, Middle, and High School wouldn't want a life like this after hearing stories of ordinary children going off and doing amazing things that people could only dream of...? It was a form of escapism, Sylvia knew that.

She might have done so when she was a child, but she had given up on that wish, to focus on school, her jobs, and helping her grandparents and hanging out with her friends.

After mulling over those thoughts, she recalled the cruel laughter from other children, directed at her. She had to shake her head to get rid of those thoughts.

Had she been dying and wanted a second chance...?

No. At least not that Sylvia remembered. She remembered that she had been at good health and had gone to sleep in her own bedroom. However, she had heard that memories can be significantly different from reality, and...

People can forget...

She didn't know how long she had been thinking about this, but she soon found that her eyes shut on her and she fell asleep once more.

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

Sylvia nodded in agreement with Pylia's comment about finding someone who can answer those questions. She then blinked at Pylia's next questions. After Pylia apologized, Sylvia gave a soft and small smile as she answered kindly, "No, not at all! I'm not offended, don't worry. If anything, I've been...wondering the same thing myself," She continued, "I'm sure that back home, there are plenty of people who are stronger, smarter, and wiser than me. I was just a normal girl who was just trying to live and work in New York and help her grandparents. Anyone back home would probably have a better idea on how to fight off a dragon than I do, and as you said, they could've picked someone who has nothing to lose,"

She then commented, "As for how I got here, I'm not sure either. My memories seem to fuzzy on that. All I remember is going to sleep in my bed, and then when I woke up, I was in cave, in my PJs, and I had to get the items you saw on my person from a bunch of inanimate skeletons,"

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

Sylvia smiled at the fact that the story made Pylia curious. Though she did come to realize something from what Pylia said. Apparently, a thousand and one nights here was more than three years. She remembered looking up the time conversion back home, and found that a thousand and one nights back home was about two years.

There’s a time difference, or at least a different way of measuring time...

Her attention turned back to Pylia when she brought up a similar story. She listened and when Pylia stopped because it was a dirty story, Sylvia at first looked slightly surprised before it became clear that she was holding back laughter. She commented with some laughter bubbling out, “I didn’t realize you had that side to you! But yeah, maybe not in front of the kids,”

Then she focused on the door once more. Sylvia thought seriously about it and she answered, “They had to have heard it, especially since the phrase was used for the same thing as the story: Opening a stone door that kept people from reaching the inside. The only differences are the riddle and the fact that we didn’t need the closing phrase,”

She then commented, “The question is who and why. Buddy had told me that he had gone to that spot of his own free will, or at the very least, guided there by visions as well,”

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

Sylvia wanted to keep listening to the story, but she recognized that everyone was getting tired. Her curiosity was piqued when she heard that the wizard was from another world! Could it be...Earth? She then shook her head and reasoned that if two worlds existed, Earth and Keratia, then who's to say that more worlds, worlds that also included magic, existed? The wizard was probably from another world that had magic. Earth wasn't such a place...was it?

Soon everyone is turning in to go to sleep. She started to unroll her own bedroll as Pylia helped Andrews and Elena to their bedrolls. She nodded to Muriel in response to her comment about how she was going to go to bed soon.

Then Pylia asked about her story. She answered Pylia, nodding, "Sure! A Thousand and One Nights..." She didn't mind telling Pylia the story, and she can tell Shortfang and Buddy the story again tomorrow. She started by introducing the story, "This is just one of the stories I know, and even so, this story is a huge compilation of smaller stories. They're considered folk tales for a desert region back home. The title, 'A Thousand and One Nights', refers to the fact that it took the protagonist and narrator one thousand and one nights to tell these stories," She then began the story,

"A long time ago, there was once a King and he had married a beautiful woman. However, at some point during their marriage, the King found that his wife was unfaithful to him. Upset and driven somewhat mad by this betrayal, he had the both of them executed. From then on, every time he took a new wife, he made sure to have her killed the next day, so as to ensure that she would never get the chance to be unfaithful to him.

Of course, this meant that many lives were lost. And this brings us to our protagonist, Scheherazade. Scheherazade was a noble woman, who was just as intelligent and well spoken as she was beautiful. She heard about the King's actions, and she came up with a plan to stop it. She volunteered to become the King's next wife. So she married the King, but at night, Scheherazade would tell the King many stories,"

Sylvia scratched her cheek, knowing that she should keep this short so the both of them could get some rest. She continued, "One of these many stories was the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, the story where that phrase came from. It was a story of how a woodcutter learned of the phrase by accident, and used the opening phrase, 'Open Sesame' and the closing phrase 'Close Sesame' to become rich. Of course, taking from thieves has its own consequences. When the thieves learned about him and the fact that he knew their secret and stole their treasure, they sought to kill him. It was thanks to a girl named Morgiana that the Thieves' plans were foiled, and Ali Baba rewarded her for her help,"

She then finished, "Now Scheherazade was clever enough to cut the story in the middle every time dawn would arise so that the King would keep her alive and have her continue her stories for the next night. This continued, and after a thousand and one nights, she told all of the stories she could tell. During those nights, the King truly fell in love with her, and after she was finished, the both of them lived happily ever after,"

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

Sylvia listened to Shortfang, taken in to the story. She found herself disliking Kalmeet (to say the least) more and more as the story continued. But the story of how Pun-Pun convinced the kobold tribes, and rescued the Silver Dragon was thrilling! She chuckled when Pylia chided Shortfang for causing a mess. When she heard that the silver dragon had melted and become a silver sword, she couldn't help but think of the silver sword mentioned in Duke Erod's story. Was this...the silver sword's origin? When Shortfang finished the story, she too cheered along with Andrews while Pylia clapped.

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

Sylvia was glad that the sandwiches did the trick and no one had a complaint about the tardiness nor the taste. She could understand Muriel's reasoning for refusing a sandwich. She continued listening to Shortfang's story as she quietly ate her own sandwich, taking a break from helping with the props for Shortfang's story. As she listened, she wondered if Kalmeet was the same black dragon from her vision. A dragon that wanted to become a god...and the fact that Kalmeet was powerful enough, and only wanted other dragons and slaves around. The slave part made Sylvia sick to her stomach. She leaned a little further when Shortfang mentioned that the golden dragon went to find the silver dragon. She wanted to know what happened next.

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

Sylvia had been so enthralled with the story, and was having so much fun with the props, that she had completely forgotten to start cooking! She blushed in embarrassment, and stated startled "Oh!" She then hurried to her pack to fish out the cooking utensils and the food, and she told them, "Hang on! Let me whip up something real quick!"

Since Shortfang and Andrews were already hungry, she knew that she didn't have much time. So she decided to just make something simple. She took some already prepared meat (like jerky), lettuce, vegetables, and cheese, and slices of bread to make sandwiches for everyone. It's quick, and it should be enough. Should her friends want it, she would even warm up the sandwiches over the fire.

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

As Shortfang spoke of the golden dragon, Sylvia moved the coat so that it loomed over Shortfang, as though to emphasize that the coat is supposed to be a grand dragon. From the front view, the sleeves moved akin to dragon's wings, as best as Sylvia could make them out to be. From the side, one of the sleeves was more of the dragon's muzzle. When Shortfang mentioned that the dragon liked what Pun-Pun said, Sylvia moved the sleeve as though it were nodding, and she used the quarterstaff as a dragon's talon, drawing imaginary circles and diagrams to teach Pun-Pun what he needed to know.

Sylvia was glad to see that Andrews and Elena were enjoying the story Shortfang was telling. She had to admit, she was enjoying the story herself.

Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

Sylvia listened to the story, at first quietly and with eyes on Shortfang as he told it. She thought it was clever of Shortfang to include props. When she noticed that Andrews and Elena joined in on listening, Sylvia decided to help Shortfang’s storytelling with a prop of her own.

She took off her bright yellow coat, and used it for the sands, sun, and the gold dragon.